


All Through the Night

by MelodicRunes



Series: Star Wars AU [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Star Wars - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Irondad & Spiderson, Jedi, Jedi Master Tony Stark, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Padawan (Star Wars), Padawan Peter Parker, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, The Force, The Force does weird things, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:21:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22310983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodicRunes/pseuds/MelodicRunes
Summary: Padawan Peter Parker is experiencing night terrors and Jedi Master Tony has no idea what to do to help.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Star Wars AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1422646
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	All Through the Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [madasthesea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasthesea/gifts).



> This is for the amazing @madasthesea and takes place shortly after her Star Wars AU fic, "The Will of the Force". If you are familiar with her other works, specifically the "What You Were Then I Am Today" universe, there is a nod to a certain wonder dog in this one. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Master Tony Stark dropped down at the table across from his friend, his silverware rattling on his food tray. 

Master Rhodes looked up briefly, then did a double-take. “You’ve seen better days,” he said bluntly. 

Tony merely grunted in response. 

“Come on, out with it Tones. What hair-brained idea has had you up all hours of the night this time?” 

Tony stabbed at the cold mush in front of him with a deep frown. “None, this time. It’s Peter.”

“Peter?” 

Tony nodded as he shoveled a spoonful of the mush into his mouth and grimaced. “Yeah. Kid can’t sleep. He keeps waking up in the middle of the night screaming from night terrors.” Tony gave up on his cold mush and ran his hand over his face. 

“How long has this been going on? Has he seen a healer,” Rhodey asked, his brows knit together in concern. 

“Too long. And we’ve tried. Nothing the healers have given him seems to work.” Tony gave a defeated sigh. “His exhaustion is more than he can handle; he’s become reckless. Yesterday, he made a simple mistake during ‘saber training and nearly cut off his left hand!”

Rhodey gave another deep frown. “Do you know what might have started all of this? What his night terrors are about?” 

“They started shortly after we arrived back from Ilum. Whatever he saw in those caves, he still sees in his dreams,” Tony said as he forced himself to eat another spoonful of mush. 

“He won’t-” 

“Tell me what they’re about? Of course, not,” Tony huffed. 

“Ah. Finally. Someone as stubborn as you are. He’s a fine fit to be your padawan,” Rhodey teased. 

Tony glared at his friend. “Shut up, Rhodey, or I’ll thrash you in the salles.” 

“You’d have to be able to stand on two feet to do that. I think my chances are pretty fair,” teased Rhodey. 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Whatever. This meal isn’t worth the torture anyway.” 

“In all seriousness, you have to get him to talk to you, Tones.” 

Tony sat silently and stared at his cup. The Force swam in tumultuous waves around them. 

“And before you go down that path, no, you’re _nothing_ like Stane. Do you hear me? _Nothing_.” 

“Stane, he...he used to Force-compel me to sleep. At first, I thought it was helpful, but now...now I think it was another form of his control.” 

“Have you tried to Force-compel Peter?” 

“No! No, I would never-” 

“Then you’re already doing better than Stane.” The two masters sighed in unison. “You have to get him to talk,” Rhodey finally said. “It’s the only way.” 

“Stane wasn’t much for talking.” 

“And yet, most days, I can’t get you to shut up,” Rhodey smirked. “You’ll do fine, Tones. Trust in the Force.” 

“Yeah, wish me luck,” Tony said as he stood, a plate of half-eaten mush in hand. 

“There is no luck; there is only the Force.” 

~~~~~

Later that evening, Tony observed his padawan as they readied for bed. Peter was sullen, white-faced, and unnaturally quiet for one of his youth. The boy had seen hardship, of that there was no doubt. It wasn’t every day that a padawan witnessed the death of his master. And that was just the most recent incident in a long list of dangerous missions Peter had been on. 

Peter felt Tony’s eyes on him and quickly offered a distraction. “Do you think the council will send us on a mission anytime soon? I’ve heard rumors of a disturbance in the Outer Rim. Maybe we could-” 

“No.” 

“No, you don’t think the council will send us or no, there isn’t a disturbance in the Outer Rim? Because Ned was saying just this afternoon that-”

“No, the council will not send us on a mission,” Tony answered simply. 

“Oh.” Peter paused. “Do you know why?” 

“I’ve taken our names off the active duty roster until we sort out whatever is keeping you up at night.” 

Peter scoffed. “Master, I’m _fine_!” 

“Really? Did you put more bacta on that ‘saber wound on your arm?” 

Peter quickly stuffed his hands into the sleeves of his robe, his face a slight shade of pink. “Master, I-”

“If you say ‘fine’ one more time, you’ll run the temple grounds till dawn,” Tony ground out. It was an idle threat, and the Force rippled between them. Peter visibly relaxed a little but refused to look his master in the eye. “Peter, I’m here to help. But, kid, you have to _let_ me.” 

“I thank you for your concern, Master, but it is not needed. If you don’t mind, I will meditate then go to bed.” 

The formality of Peter’s little speech stung but Tony schooled his features and dismissed the boy. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. He intended to meditate himself but must’ve fallen asleep due to his own exhaustion. All too soon, the peaceful quiet of their living quarters was shattered by Peter’s screams. 

“No! BEN NO,” the padawan wailed over and over again. “Master! Please!”

Tony dashed to Peter’s door, which opened without his prompting. Peter thrashed on his mattress, tangled in his blanket. His face was pale and tears streamed down his cheeks. No amount of Tony’s shaking was getting through to Peter, who continued to wail. 

“Come on, Peter! Wake _up_ ,” Tony pushed with the Force and broke through what felt like a solid brick wall. And he finally understood why Peter didn’t want to tell him about these night terrors. Their new Force bond suddenly flooded with what Tony recognized as the kid's latest dream. 

_Peter sat on the floor of a broken-down starship, Master Ben Fitzpatrick cradled in his arms._

_“Ben! No, please! Force, no! Take me! Take me instead, please," he sobbed, his shoulders shaking._

_Tony took a step further and saw that Ben was dead. A blaster wound in his chest oozed blood. Tony hesitantly placed his hand on dream Peter’s shoulder and the boy jumped._

_“M-master? M-master St-stark,” he stammered._

_“Come on, Peter. It’s time to go.”_

_“Go,” he sniffled. “I can’t go. I can’t leave him!”_

_“We aren’t leaving him,” Tony tried to be gentle, “But we can’t stay here. You have to wake up.”_

_“Wake...up…,” Peter asked in a daze. Dream Ben had disappeared, as had the blood on Peter’s tunic._

_“Yes, you have to wake up. Come on. I’ll help you.”_

_Peter looked down at his lap and saw that Master Ben was gone. "Master Ben! Where'd he go? He was right here!"_

_"He's gone, Peter. This isn't real; it's a dream." Tony held out a hand. "Come on. It's time to wake up."_

_Peter's tear-stained face stared up at him and the Force rolled with...something new. Something Tony couldn't put his finger on. He wanted to help this kid more than he had ever wanted to help anyone. Tony vowed right then and there that this kid was going to be the best Jedi he could be. Later, Tony would wonder if vows made in a dream still counted, but the sentiment remained. Peter looked up at him with a blind Faith and placed a cold hand in Tony's. Tony, not used to being in his own dreams much less someone else's, did the only thing he knew to do: he visualized their living quarters_. 

They returned to their own minds, both fully awake and definitely not dreaming anymore. They blinked at each other in confusion, Peter's breath coming in ragged gasps and Tony's head pounding behind his eyes. Peter took a moment to reorient himself, then rushed out of the room to the 'fresher. 

The young Padawan resurfaced half an hour later, hair wet and a freshly laundered tunic around his shoulders. He wandered into the common area and stopped abruptly, surprised to still see his Master awake. Tony tossed the boy's brown cloak at him. 

"Come on. We're going out."

"At this time of night? Master?"

But Tony didn't answer and didn't look back to see if the Padawan followed. He had been given an order, so he was expected to obey. 

The pair quietly made their way down several floors to the Droid repair center. Without any preamble, Tony walked past the security Droid on duty to the workshop in the back, Peter close on his heels. Tony tossed his cloak aside absentmindedly and sat down at a workstation littered with parts. He got to work digging through the spare parts looking for a particular circuit for his latest repair project. 

"Have a seat," he said without looking up. Peter summoned a stool and sat across from his Master. 

That first night, Peter merely watched Tony work as they sat in companionable silence. Peter didn't feel like talking much, and Tony wasn't going to push him. But, as Tony suspected, the padawan's night terrors continued and he lead Peter down to the Droid repair center again. The second night, they both seemed to fall into chairs at the workstation. Tony grabbed a Droid circuit board and passed it to Peter. It was a true sign of his exhaustion that Peter grabbed it and some tools without asking. They passed a full week in this fashion: Peter waking in the middle of the night, both making the trek down to the repair center to work in an exhausted silence. Tony began to wonder if nothing would help his padawan, if maybe Peter didn’t trust him enough to talk to him, if perhaps the Force had something else entirely in mind (although what, he couldn’t say). 

But one morning, he was awakened by the simulated sunshine coming through the window of their living quarters. He stretched, and yawned, thoroughly confused. 

_Did...did Peter finally sleep through the night?_

As if summoned by the thought, Peter padded into the living area with a fresh cup of caf and placed it on the table next to Tony. “Morning, Master,” he said quietly. 

Tony stared quietly at the steaming brew, still contemplating the seemingly impossible. Peter scurried out the door before Tony could pester him with questions. 

_Doesn’t matter_ , Tony thought as he sipped his caf. _I’ll catch him later when his courses are finished for the day._

But their time for ‘saber training had come and gone, and the restless padawan was nowhere to be found. Tony searched the mess hall in hopes of at least finding one of his friends ( _Ted? Is that his name? I can’t be expected to keep up with this_ ), but no luck there. Peter wasn’t with any of his teachers, and the healers hadn’t seen him, either. The archives were a last resort and Tony _finally_ found someone who could help. 

Tony approached the young padawan, her brown hair in a frizzled mop, her nose buried deep in a datapad. She gave no indication she sensed his arrival, so he cleared his throat. 

“Master Tony,” she greeted without looking up. 

“I’ve misplaced my padawan. You aren’t hiding him behind that giant stack of datapads, are you?” 

“No. But you could try the Droid repair level. He goes there a lot now when he needs to think.” 

_Huh._

Tony turned on his heel to leave, but her voice made him pause. 

“He’s sleeping better, isn’t he.” It wasn’t really a question; Tony didn’t know how to respond. 

“He is.” 

“Good.” MJ finally looked up from her datapad. “You’re good for him. I’m glad you took him as your padawan.” 

They held the other’s gaze for what seemed like a long time, Tony wondering what in the world was going through her mind at that moment. Then she blinked and pointed down the hall. 

“Droid repair’s that way.” She turned back to her datapad without another word and Tony smirked as he left the archives. That girl was going places. 

Finally, at half-past _too-kriffing-late_ , Tony found his wayward padawan. Peter was up to his elbows in droid parts, his face and arms and tunic covered in grease. He also showed no sign of sensing Tony’s arrival. Tony cleared his throat again. 

“In a minute,” Peter replied absent-mindedly. 

Tony arched his eyebrow. And cleared his throat a little louder. 

“In a minute! I’m almost done. And...there!” With a satisfying metallic _click_ , the last bolt fell into place. Peter looked up...and paled. “M-Master! I...uh...h-how long…” 

“Have I been looking for you? Too long.” He wanted to shout in frustration, but something in the Force nudged him toward the newly mended droid between them. “What’s this?” 

Peter flushed and scrambled to cover up his little project. “N-nothing. It’s nothing.” 

“Lying’s against the code,” Tony teased. 

Peter flushed even further and stopped trying to cover up his Droid. “It’s...it’s...I’ve been...fixing it. When I can’t sleep.” 

“But you’ve slept through the night for a while now,” Tony protested. 

“Uh, well, not really. I sorta, stopped sleeping altogether for a little bit.” 

“But you’re night terrors-”

“Went away when I stopped sleeping. I came down here instead. I didn’t want to wake you...again.” Peter sheepishly fumbled with the hem of his tunic. 

“You look well-rested. You’ve slept at some point. Even Scary Girl says so, and if she agrees then it must be true.” 

Peter’s head shot up at the mention of MJ. “You talked to MJ? When?” 

“Earlier, when I was trying to find _you_. Now, tell me more about this Droid.” 

“Uh, well. I’d come down here and work when I couldn’t sleep. But then I started to come down here during the day some, too, like today. I wanted to finish it. I guess I went so long without sleeping that I just...finally collapsed on the table down here one night. I woke up the next morning feeling better.” 

“Uh huh. And when was that?” 

“Uh...a week ago? Maybe a week and a half?” 

“So you’ve been sleeping through the night for almost two weeks? And sneaking down here to finish this Droid in your spare time?” 

Peter hung his head in shame. Lying and sneaking around was definitely against the code, especially if the person lied to was one’s Master. “Yes, Master,” he answered in a near whisper. 

Tony clapped him on the shoulders. “Pete! That’s great news!” 

“Wait, you aren’t-”

“Mad? No! I’m glad you’ve found a way around these night terrors. So are you gonna tell me about this Droid, or what?” 

“Oh,” the padawan floundered. “Well, it was a broken general labor droid and I...fixed it...I guess. I haven’t turned it on yet.” 

“Any particular reason this broken general labor droid over everything else in here?” 

Peter busied himself with wiping the oil and grease off the droid’s back panel. “Master Ben, he...he liked broken things. But he never called them broken. Repurposed. Renewed. I once accidentally dropped a teapot and instead of throwing it away, he mended it as best he could. But it wouldn’t hold tea anymore, the cracks were just a little too large. So he repurposed it and planted a tea plant in it. Stuck it on the shelf closest to sunlight like it was a place of honor.” 

Peter had long stopped cleaning the Droid, but still wouldn’t look Tony in the eye. 

“This Droid, it seemed like it just needed someone to repurpose it, make it new again. And when I worked, I could almost _feel_ Master Ben guiding my hands.” 

He looked up at Tony half expecting his new Master to be angry. He was surprised when Tony responded with a half-smile. 

“Well, turn it on. Let’s see how it works now.” 

Peter beamed from ear to ear, took a deep breath, and pressed a button under the back panel. 

The little Droid instantly whirled to life, giving off high-pitched beeps, turning its head around to gather as much new information as possible. 

“It works,” Tony praised, pride swimming through their Force bond. 

“She,” Peter corrected. “Her name is MG-13. I was hoping she could help us around the living quarters, maybe assist if we needed anything. And maybe I can keep updating her programming, and she can come on missions, too!” 

“So a general labor droid or an astromech,” Tony asked with a smirk. 

“Both!” 

Tony chuckled as Peter placed the Droid on the ground and ordered, “Come on MG-13. Let’s go home.” 

MG-13 beeped a happy tune as she rolled down the hall in Peter’s wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and criticism are always welcome. Hit me up on Tumblr @melodicrunes


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